This description relates to piston waveform shaping.
In a number of devices (e.g., hydraulic pumps or motors, air compressors or motors, alternators, electric engines, and internal combustion engines), the motion of a piston is used to impart rotation to a flywheel, or vice versa. In piston assemblies such as those discussed in PCT Application WO 03/100231 filed May 27, 2003 and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, the motion of the pistons is linear in space and sinusoidal in time (i.e., simple harmonic motion), such that a piston's motion and velocity waveforms are generally sinusoidal.